"I'm brimming with power. Grown men fear me. The ancients seek my help. My name is Herbert, and I'm eleven years old..." Reader's Praise "My son is really into books like Harry Potter and Michael Vey. He's an avid reader of that type of genre. He absolutely loved this book and is already asking when the next one will be out."-Laura A. R. "So many contemporary fantasy novelists simply reform and repackage what has already been done. Not this one What a refreshing and enjoyable read." -A "The Will and the Forest: Episode 1 was a great read and left me wanting more. The character development was very good and I fell in love with the personalities in the story." -Kathryn M Follow a young group of misfit villagers who embark to discover the mystery of the Arkeiam Lectus; a most mysterious book with legendary power. But perhaps the greatest mystery of all is the power they discover in themselves-The Will-a powerful force in the universe that is no longer practiced except by the last surviving Willers. Full Synopsis It is a world of knights, pirates, warlords, and squires. But for eleven year-old Herbert, such heroes exist only in children's books and in toys carved from pinecones. Until one spring morning that is, when Herbert is greeted by a mysterious creature with a cryptic message. What's odd is that the owlbat delivering the note shouldn't rightly exist, not since the Ruby Wars anyways. And the letters on the note are written in ancient Erdel-the lost language of the ancients who vanished over six thousand years ago. Stranger still? The ink is fresh, still damp from the night previous. As Herbert and the mysteriously old bookkeeper Ms. Opal unravel secrets of the past, Herbert's first great adventure begins and takes him where he is wary to go- into the pine forest, where an old sage with strange abilities dwells. And with rumors of a warlord marching from the north, and the arrival of merchant pirates at the village Harbor, Herbert's simple life is about to change forever. Fortunately Herbert is not without companions, and has good friends close around him: Donaldson, the acrobatic orphan living on the rooftops, and Ashlund, the Mayor's daughter with a secret past who is ready to run away and leave the village forever. Join Herbert's quest in this new fantasy book series as he learns firsthand what it takes to be a true hero.